Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 

            Michelle ripped the covers off of me; I pretended to be tired. I moaned.

            “Come on sugar, rise and shine!” She chirped. I rose, rubbed my eyes, and she lead me to the bar. I ended up with eggs. Another masterpiece of Angela… I wonder what happened after I left.  I pretended to not know anything. Besides I might’ve gotten in trouble. Everyone was at a booth. Everyone but Angela.  Even Dylan was there; he was talking to Maraina. Of course. I walk over to them,

            “Dylan, we need to talk.”

            “Well spit it out then.” That… that smile.

            “Alone.” My face was stone. His smile expanded. He got up. I took him to the hall; I shut the door so no one would hear.

            “Where’s Angela? No, The question is: What did you do to her?” He sighed in disappointment, because I wanted to talk of important things.

            “Why do you ask?” He lifted his arm over my head in a laid back fashion, leaning into my personal space, but the reek of his sweaty underarms were defeating his efforts of being attractive. “I know you two don’t get along.” I can’t tell him, not yet anyway. “So if she’s no where to be found I know you will have something to do with it.” He looked to the floor without his smile.

            “Uh…” He headed for the door. I slammed it shut; he flinched.

            “Forget about leaving, talk!”

            “You’re a feisty one aren’t you?” His smile returned.

            “Tell me where she is!” I rolled my eyes, and his smile disappeared again.

            “Follow me.” He sighed, finally giving up. At fist I was afraid to follow him, but it became clear that he wasn’t up to jokes. We got up some steps. We passed my room.  We traveled to the last door at the end of the hallway. He opened the door. He gestured to let me in first.

            “She’s in here.” I got in the room it was lit with the overflow of sunlight that formed a shadow on just about everything. There was a lump in the bed. Angela. She turned over on her side facing me.

            “Courtalia?” I rushed to the bed I kneeled to meet eye level. I smiled at her. “I’m so glad you’re here. The strangest thing happened. Dylan and I were fighting and-” She stopped, and looked over my shoulder. Dylan must have given a gesture to cut the story short and leave out the details about me. “Anyway, a shatter came out of no where and I got a splinter in my chest here.” She sat up, or at least tried to.  She suffered to get up while grinding her teeth. Dylan lingered to her side, but hesitated. So he sat. “Right here.” She lifted a portion of her shirt on her left side. She was bandaged.

            “The splinter was… really big. See?” Dylan held up the splinter that was placed on the table beside the bed. It was about 5 inches with blood splotches. Great, the last thing I need is to feel even more guilty. Like the pain in her voice wasn’t enough. I grinded my teeth and sucked in air.

            “Ouch, that must have hurt… a lot.” It was all I could say.

            “Yes… It did.”

            “I had to take it out… not fun.” Dylan added. If only he knew that if I hadn’t thrown the spoon, we would be plying out glass from his sides.

            “Well… It’s over now.” She laid down again. “Yes it’s all over.” 

            “Have you told anyone about this yet?” They looked at each other.

            “No.”

            “Why not?”

            “Not like anyone is going to care.” There was a pause.

            “Markus will.” She took some time to absorb this. Probably thinking back on the times when he taught her to cook.

            “Hmm…. Maybe… Dylan, go tell him, please.” He lingered to the door. I noded to assure that she will be fine. He left.

            I talked with her about what she remembers. It turned out that it wasn’t much. It only took Markus ten minutes to arrive; he busted open the door. 

“I heard what happened. Are you alright?” He scanned her arms and waist after kneeling to her side.

“Uh…. Yeah I guess…” She didn’t expect him to care so much I figured.

“I’m very glad.” He hugs her; she is startled. I looked back at Dylan, and he shrugged. Angela decided to hug Markus back. Awe, nothing like a little father daughter love.  

“I have things taken care of up here.” He looked to Dylan. “While you sir should get to work.” Said Markus, giving Angela a tap on the nose. She laughed as if tickled.

“Yah, better get to it.” She said with a friendly gleam in her eyes. Dylan rolls his eyes. We left to get started on my first lesson on horse riding.

            It was just about noon when we got our selves situated. He had to finish many chores before he could start his teaching.

            “Hey Dylan…” I purred. “I think you missed a spot.” I smiled devilishly while sipping the lemonade that Michelle brought me to beat the heat.

            “Oh like you could do better, princess.” He snorted back. Harrumph, I’ll show you! Haha! I picked up a broom and gave a good WACK to his leg, not a hard one though. I plopped back into my hay bed, satisfied with my good work. There that ought to do it. He stood there dumbfounded.

            “Uh… Ow!” I cracked up. “Oh it’s sooo funny, but would you seriously help me? Otherwise, I’m never gonna be able to teach you.” He chuckled.

            “Ok fine.”

            Of course the kid gave me the easy jobs, like combing the horses and organizing things, while he carried things from one place to another and scrubbed buckets with strength. All the horses were friendly, and didn’t give me trouble when I tried to comb them. At first, I didn’t really know how to brush a horse. I brushed toward her head. I think it was a girl. When I did this, her ears perked up. I read in a book that that’s not a great sign, so I stopped. Dylan saw me flinch, and came over to me.

            “Don’t be afraid, she just likes to be brushed in this direction.” He guided my hand with the brush. Oh… I knew that. He held onto my hand for a lot of the brushing.

             Once we were done all that stuff, we got down to business. Dylan disappeared into a stable. He came out pulling the reigns of a gray little horse. He had to stop and say comforting words to the little one, but he eventually got her to come out of the shadows completely. I just stood there as he brought the horse into the sunlight.

            “She’s new, so she’s a little nervous.” He offers his hand, and smiles. “Up you go.” I hesitated. “I’ll tell you what to do from there, come on now. That’s it, good then.” He cleared his throat. “Ahem, First, you must always keep good posture when riding a horse-” This is going to be a long lesson. “Also when riding a horse you have to hold the reigns very firmly.” I tightened my grip. “Good. To steer you horse, pull the rains in a manner so that the horse is facing the direction you want to go.” I pulled the reigns slightly to the right; her head faces the left. Oh… cool! “After you ride a horse, you need to walk her to cool her down. Just think about this: If you ran for a long time and suddenly stop, how would you feel? Quenched, exhausted, aching, you get the idea. If you cool off you won’t ache and the exhaustion will wear down, you see?” …This riding stuff is easy. Let’s see, how do I get her to move?

I gave her a little nudge with my shoe. Nope. I wove the rains a little. She started walking. Cool! Dylan goes to a bucket and rummages through it. I took my little horse and went outside the barn area. I led her out side. We steered right, and then we continued to go strait. Then we wondered around a little. I decided to have a little fun, and started speeding up. I circled the perimeter of The Emerald City. I really sped up when I got to the front. There were two girls seated on the poach playing cards, Maraina, and Angela. I was glad to see her there, and not in her bed.

When I passed them there was a lot of Go! Go! Go! And Ride’em girly! I got back to the barn. Where did Dylan go? I heard panting. I turned. It was Dylan leaning on the door. “Ok, huh huh, now let’s work on the cool down.” He continued to gasp for air.

“Yeah, she worked hard. Didn’t she?” I said petting her soft mane. Dylan keeps huffing and puffing.

“I think I might need one too.”